Sam Miguel

It is officially a new year, and yes Praxedes, we somehow survived the annual mandatory blood alcohol poisoning that is part of the rituals of ringing out the old and ringing in the new.

Below, numbered for enumeration and not for order of importance, are my memorable basketball moments for 2017:

1. Kevin Durant made the move and won his championship ring.

There are those who think Durant ought to be commended for finally coming to terms with the fact that he and Russell Westbrook will never win an NBA world title together in Oklahoma City.

There are also those who think Durant should never ever be allowed into the Hall of Fame because he took the easiest way out of that little conundrum by signing with the Golden State Warriors, effectively ensconcing the NBA title in the West for all time, or at least the next decade.

Durant did what he had to do, and did it at a time when he can still win multiple championships in Oakland. Yes, if he was as great as he thinks he is then he should have stayed in Oklahoma and proven it.

But then again, he doesn't owe anybody any explanation or excuse about making a move that is simply a no-brainer if he wants to have the one thing that all the true greats have, a championship.

Unless LeBron James is cloned in Cleveland then the NBA has become boring for the next decade or so.

2. Ginebra retains its Governors Cup title.

Ginebra San Miguel and Meralco played to a record crowd of over 54,000 fans at the Philippine Arena in Bulacan in the Mother of all Game 7's as the Gin Kings retained their PBA Governors Cup championship.

Greg Slaughter, who sat out the 2016 title run due to injury, finally got his first PBA championship on the hardwood floor.

Meralco put up a heck of a fight, but in the end the superior size of Ginebra proved just to big (literally) an obstacle to overcome.

If the Game 7 box office and television share was any indication, Ginebra is still the lifeblood of the PBA.

3. Lyceum went from shit to sweep in the NCAA.

Talk about the Lyceum Pirates in the NCAA and you'd normally get word associations such as "cellar dweller", "league doormat", "whipping boys". At least until this season.

This season the Pirates completed an historic 18-game regular season sweep of the NCAA, including two tough games against reigning champion San Beda.

Granted they eventually folded when it mattered most, getting swept 2-0 in the Finals as the Red Lions went on to continue their NCAA Dynasty.

Still, no one can ever take away what Coach Topex Robinson, CJ Perez and the rest of the Pirates achieved this season. That si probably a record that will stand for the better part of this century.

4. Christian Standhardinger, through no fault of his own, is now June Mar Fajardo's teammate.

Mention Christian Standhardinger and what automatically comes to mind is the controversial trade that allowed the already powerful San Miguel Beer franchise to draft him with the Number 1 pick in the 2017 PBA Rookie Draft.

No one except the most hardcore of hoops fans even heard of Standhardinger before this year.

He is a strapping and active 6-foot-8 Filipino-German forward who spent his college years in the US NCAA.

Then Gilas head coach Chot Reyes summoned him for national team duty and he answered the call.

Although he was classified by FIBA as a naturalized player and not a local, he saw action with Gilas and showed Pinoy fans why Reyes wanted him.

Fast forward to Draft Day 2017 and Kia gives up the rights to the Number 1 pick in favor of some role players, allowing the Beermen to nab Standhardinger.

He now gets to play alongside four-time MVP Fajardo, although not right away since he still has an active ABL contract to play out.

Kia, as mentioned above, gave up the chance to get Standhardinger in the draft essentially for three role players: JR Reyes, Ronald Tubid, and Filipino-American Rashawn McCarthy. Uh, who? Yes Praxedes, that was what everybody thought as well.

Anyway, where were we? Ah yes, Narvasa.

This trade would not have been consummated had Narvasa not approved it as Commissioner.

This then led to a "schism" of sorts within the PBA Board, with five team allied with the San Miguel Corporation on one side, supporting Narvasa, and seven teams led by the PLDT Group on the other side asking for Narvasa's head on a platter.

Although Narvasa held out for a while, he did eventually give up and resign.

While every PBA fan's attention is on the ongoing Finals between Barangay Ginebra and Meralco (currently with the Gin Kings leading the series 3-2), a bit of news suddenly diverted a lot of attention away from the Finals and on to the 2017 PBA Draft set in a few days from this writing.

Apparently Kia, the league's doormat, owns the Number 1 pick in this year's draft, a pick they could use to select either 6-foot-8 Filipino-German forward-center Christian Standhardinger, or 5-foot-10 multimedia darling and former Ateneo superstar guard Kiefer Ravena. Yes, Praxedes, those two are the consensus Top 2 picks, with the German lad most likely to go first overall.

For a team as down on their luck as the Picanto, Praxedes would be justified in thinking that Kia ought to be drooling and jonesing even, for the chance to get either Standhardinger or Ravena, both of whom could become franchise stars for them. And no, Manny-bloody-Pacquiao does not count.

This is where things suddenly went all deja vu.

News reports have it that Kia and San Miguel Beer were looking to put a trade together.

San Miguel would get the Number 1 pick from Kia, while Kia would get a slew of Beermen bench players, ranging from the immortal Ronald Tubid to the who-the-heck-is-that Rashawn McCarthy.

Let's let that sink in for a while: Kia is willing to trade a probable (not just possible) franchise star for a bunch of so-so players who are either unproven or nearing the end of their careers.

But wait, there's more!

Later reports have it that the Beermen were also willing to give up Filipino-American forward Matt Ganuelas, steady veterans Gabby Espinas and Yancy De Ocampo, along with all the other players aforementioned.

You can just imagine the shit storm the news stirred up. It was so monumental that buss for the proposed trade (not yet approved by the Commissioner's Office as of this writing) was at one time generating almost as much media buzz as the Ginebra-Meralco Finals.

The scout's sentiments were pretty much echoing the general sentiments among basketball fans and sports observers.

Of course Mr Scout has a day job that allos him to have other information that the typical fan might not be privy to. "RSA (San Miguel boss Ramon S Ang) bailed out the owners of BMW, who are also the owners of Kia, so hindi na mahirap mag-one plus one na hawak ni RSA sa leeg ang Kia."

But they gave Troy Rosario away too when they had a chance to draft him, said I.

"It only goes to show na may ibang gustong mangyari talaga ang Kia," he replied.

Indeed, the Picanto have given away not just Rosario, a Gilas mainstay, but also the likes of bull strong Bradwyn Guinto, the versatile KG Canaleta and Aldrech Ramos (the two guys they got for Rosario), Alex Mallari, Karl Dehesa, etc etc.

It should therefore not come as a surprise that Kia is once again in the thick of a questionable trade.

If ever, San Miguel Beer will add a high quality, internationally proven big man to a team that sent four of its starters to the season's Mythical 5, including MVP Fajardo. Standhardinger or Ravena would definitely give them a high quality sixth man, or even a new starter while sending a Mythical 5 or MVP awardee off the bench. They almost completed a Grand Slam, how much better will they be with this year's Number 1 pick?

For PBA Commissioner Chito Narvasa, he's still trying to sort things out on this proposed trade.

"I'm talking to Kia and San Miguel officials," he said in one interview. "People say it is about parity in the league. But teams have the same right as anybody else to decide their fate. At the end of the day, it has to be about what is good for the PBA, families themselves, and the teams themselves," he added.

Those aren't exactly words to reassure fans and media alike about what the league is going to do about a trade no sane person would ever consider fair.

It has certainly been a very active offseason for a number of NBA teams. Some players have changed addresses, none more hyped so than Kyrie Irving's move to the Boston Celtics.

Irving will have newly-minted superstar Gordon Haywood keeping him company in Boston.

He isn't the only one of course. Isaiah Thomas, supposedly Boston's Next Legend, traded addresses with Irving and is now with LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Dwayne Wade has reunited with James in Cleveland in what is shaping up to be a super team of sorts. They also signed former MVP Derrick Rose out of New York.

Paul George and Carmelo Anthony - who have 14 All Star appearances and a few Olympic gold medals between them - are now teammates. With reigning MVP Russell Westbrook, over in Oklahoma City.

Chris Paul and James Harden are also teammates now, over with the Houston Rockets.

Rudy Gay was signed - almost without fanfare - by the ever efficient San Antonio Spurs.

Jimmy Butler rejoins his old coach Tom Thibodeau in Minnesota, where he will team up with rising stars Andrew Wiggins and Karl Anthony Towns.

Golden State gave Steph Curry the biggest contract extension in NBA history with $201 million, only to have Oklahoma City top that by giving Westbrook his own extension for $205 million.

And the season hasn't even started yet.

So how do all these big moves translate into the actual season? Well, we'll have to wait and see when the actual season rolls around won't we?

But still, as an academic discussion, let us see where this leads us, Praxedes...

Undoubtedly the biggest development was the Irving-Thomas trade. It was basically an All Star trade, but as we have commented in this space, it seems the normally astute Danny Ainge gave up too much to secure the services of the 25-year old Irving.

Aside from the 28-year old Thomas (who was coming off a career year) the Celtics also gave away backup big man Ante Zizic, two-way forward Jae Crowder, and most importantly, an unprotected first round pick in the 2018 Draft from the normally woebegone Brooklyn Nets. So yes, that is going to be a sure Top 5 pick come 2018.

Granted Thomas probably won't be playing until January due to a hip injury, still, quite a package Ainge sent to Cleveland.

Westbrook for his part not only got 200 million clams richer but he now has two other legitimate All Stars beside him. The usual takl is that there won't be enough touches and shots to go around for three of the best scorers in the league. It should be intersting to see what GM Sam Presti and head coach Billy Donovan have in mind other than running opponents into the ground.

"The NBA landscape has changed and we need to change with it," Presti said in one interview. So from building through the draft he suddenly built a new super team.

The same might be said for the Timberwolves, with the three young stars getting a chance to try and build a stronger team. "We want to be in a better position to win," said Thibodeau in one interview.

Harden transformed into an elite point guard last season with career highs in assists and became a much better creator, especially on the drive and draw. Paul is also a top-tier point guard, which means Harden might be reverting back to his shooting guard position, and taking away his ability to create for his teammates, a job that will now fall to Paul.

Gay will be playing alongside emergent superstar Kawhi Leonard, and both play similar games, mostly creating and scoring from the perimeter, although Gay should be able to slide easily into a super sidekick role for Greg Poppovich.

All of this of course still boils down to whether or not anybody, including the reloaded Cavaliers, can knock Curry, Kevin Durant and the Warriors off their throne.

Curry and Durant might have surprised a lot of observers and analysts when they actually played well together, but that means taking on the Warriors only became that much more difficult.

As much as Oklahoma and Minnesota have improved, it doesn't look like they've improved enough to be a meaningful challenger to Golden State. It remains to be seen if the addition of Gay to San Antonio has given the Spurs the extra weapon they need against Golden State.

All told it will make for a very interesting and exciting NBA season, one that hopefully will prove to be more entertaining than last season.

It still looks like a Warriors-Cavaliers Finals, but hopefully the road to the NBA Title will prove to be a little more bumpy.

The Cleveland Cavaliers are becoming the NBA franchise for milestone events in the Internet Age.

First there was "The Decision". Then came "The Return". Now we have "The Trade".

The first two events centered around LeBron James, without a doubt the biggest damn star in all of Cleveland sports history, no disrespect meant to Mr James Brown.

That third event though, that is something that has gotten quite the buzz.

Allow me to explain, Praxedes:

Kyrie Irving, the top pick of the 2011 NBA Rookie Draft, an All Star and USA Basketball stalwart, asked Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert to trade him a couple months back, reportedly because he "wanted to be more of the focal point" according to media articles and features.

Fair enough, a man can certainly make his own decisions regarding his career.

Fast forward to less than a few hours ago (as of this writing) and that trade has been consummated.

Thomas, picked 60th and last in the same draft where Irving went first overall, became a bona fide superstar last season, at one point averaging 30 points per game and eventually settling down to a little over 28 ppg.

Had this been a one-for-one trade nobody would be talking about it much. After all, it was basically score-first superstar point guards swapping places.

But the Celtics threw in Crowder, a lottery draftee, who is one of the best two-way players in the league and a top defender at both forward spots. They also threw in Zizic, still a work in progress as another 7-foot project but one with pretty good upside according to scouts.

But the ultimate throw-in is that 2018 unprotected draft pick.

Praxedes, do you know how Boston got that pick?

They got that pick during their massive housecleaning that sent Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce to the Brooklyn Nets. Yes, those Brooklyn Nets, a team so bad that draft pick could easily be a Top 5 player in a draft year projected to be top heavy with the likes of Marvin Bagley III and Mohamed Bamba among those the Cavaliers could take.

For one Kyrie Irving.

Celtics General Manager Danny Ainge seems to think Irving is worth it. "You want a high quality player you have to pay a high price," he said in one interview.

But is this a price that is too high?

Ainge has built a reputation as an executive who has generally managed talent very well in Boston and everywhere else he's been. How did Cleveland get him to give up so much for Irving?

Truth be told Irving and Thomas are certainly one of a type: score-first, clutch-shooting point guards who need the ball in their hands a lot, and both aren't exactly known for their defense. Irving in particular put up career numbers last season with over 25 ppg while shooting a little over 40% from three-range. He hit the title-clinching three in Game 7 of their historic resurrection from 1-3 down to Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors in the 2016 NBA Finals.

Yet his defensive metrics can charitably be described as "mediocre".

Thomas for his part went on a tear last season and might have made even more noise is the playoffs were it not for a hip injury.

For all his greatness, Thomas is still just 5-foot-9, and players that small tend not to last very long, playing at that level, in the league.

So it was the throw-ins that really made this a fleecing for Cleveland, fleecing the fleecer as it were.

And as fate would have it, or maybe it really was part of the plan, Cleveland and Boston take on each other on opening night this October 17.

I guess, Praxedes, we will find out right away who really fleeced who then, eh?

NEW YORK ? Free agency in the NBA can be so complicated that even teams mess it up sometimes.

The Houston Rockets and Nene had to negotiate two deals because it turned out the first contract they agreed to wouldn't have been legal in NBA circles.

All the talk about salary caps and luxury taxes is when the game of basketball becomes a business. It's one of the reasons more and more front offices are being led by former stat analysts instead of former stat stuffers.

So now that free agent signings have commenced, here's a look at the salary cap, how it's determined, and how teams get around it:

Q: Why are deals that were done days ago being announced today?

A: The NBA has a moratorium period during which teams and players can negotiate and agree to deals, but nothing can be completed until the moratorium ends, which is now the afternoon of July 6. The salary cap used to be computed during the moratorium and announced just before it ended, which was sometimes confusing to teams in trying to negotiate contracts without knowing exactly how much they could spend. The cap is now announced when free agency opens on July 1.

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Q: How is the salary cap determined?

A: It's a formula based on the projected basketball-related income of that year. For the 2017-18 season, the cap has been set at $99.1 million. That's the highest it's ever been, though it didn't take anywhere near the huge leap of a year ago following the extension of the league's national TV deals. As a result, teams haven't spent quite as extravagantly ? or perhaps foolishly ? as last July.

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Q: Are there penalties for exceeding the cap?

A: Yes, there are penalties. And they can be severe, depending on how much a team goes over the cap and how often. Teams pay a luxury tax this year if they exceed $119 million. It starts with $1.50 for every $1 they are over, and rises at various levels from there if they soar $5 million or more past the tax. But that starts at $2.50 for every $1 if a team is a ?repeater,? having been a taxpayer for the previous three seasons.

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Q: Is $99.1 million the most each NBA team can spend in payroll next season?

A: No, teams can exceed the cap. Unlike the NFL, the NBA has what's considered a ?soft? cap, allowing teams to exceed the cap through the use of various spending exceptions. In some cases, the more a team spends, the bigger its tax break. Teams can use one of three mid-level exceptions this season: There is a $5.2 million exception granted to teams with payrolls exceeding $119 million, an $8.4 million exception for teams with payrolls under $119 million, but over the $99.1 million cap; there is a $4.3 million exception for teams with a payroll under $99.1 million.

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Q: Will teams that signed players to big free agent deals now have to make trades because of the luxury cap?

A. That's a yes and no answer. Yes, if teams that are in danger of paying the luxury tax want to avoid penalties, they will have to make deals. The answer would be no if teams don?t mind paying the luxury tax. Before signings picked up momentum Thursday afternoon, there were two teams with payrolls over the $119 million payroll that triggers the luxury tax ? Cleveland and Portland. Once free agency ends, there likely will be several more. But teams have the upcoming season to adjust payrolls via trades, buyouts and other moves as the luxury tax won't kick in until the end of the 2017-18 season since it is based on players' salaries.

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Q: What does the cap have to do with player salaries?

A: Veteran players can get a percentage of the cap to determine the first year of their salaries in a contract. For a player who has been in the league 10 or more years, that can be 35 percent of that season's salary cap. The cap doesn't really impact contracts for rookies or minimum-salary players. Their salary levels are determined.

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Q: How did the Warriors sign Nick Young after giving Stephen Curry a $200 million deal and re-signing Kevin Durant?

A: The Warriors will be one of those teams over the cap once all their deals are completed. The reigning champs went on a spending spree with Curry's big deal, re-signing Durant, Andre Iguodala, Shaun Livingston and everything else they're doing. Their payroll will exceed $119 million, so they will use the $5.2 million mid-level exception available to them to slot in Young.

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Q: Are only legitimate championship contenders willing to pay the luxury tax?